Pissed
by 3bz
Summary: Actually it's four brothers and a sister. If you thought Bobby was dangerously screwed up you obviously haven't met Chris.
1. Chris Mercer

One phone call is all it took for all hell to break lose in Detroit. But I'm a little ahead of myself.

Christina Mercer was in the system from the ages of five to eleven. Then Evelyn Mercer took her in. Anyone that came across her could tell just by looking in her eyes that she's seen too much. She's been through the sreets of Detroit and back. Evelyn also took in four other boys Bobby, Angel, Jeremiah, and Jack. This was Chris's family and everyone knew that if you so muched as thought of hurting anyone one of them you'd better pray to god that you die before she got to you.

Most people would describe Chris's life before the age of five to be and inferno short of hell. Chris would say it was just the first five years of life. A junkie father and a dead beat mom who, lets be honest was only around for the nine hours of labor and maybe two days after leaving the hospital. When her dad wasn't shooting up in the living room he was beating thr crap out of her for some magical reason that she never really felt like asking for.

Chris learned at a very early age that silence was the key living. Keeping you mouth closed was the one thing that you had to do to push forward another day. She never smiled not even as a baby because in her eyes there wasn't anything to smile about.

After a few neighbors got tired of all the banging she was taken away and put in one hell hole after another. There was the bad houses, the houses with too many kids for the fat checks, there where the houses that were covered in every bug and rodent you could think of, and then there were the really bad ones. The ones that it was impossible to go to sleep in because you'd just be woken up by some guy three or four times your size wanting to get off.

This was Chris's life for the first eleven years of her life. There was no playing in the park, or running around with other kids, no home cooked dinners at the table and being asked if she had a good day, and not one single ounce of love or happiness.

_And that was fine with her._


	2. The voice message

The only time Chris actually felt some happiness was when she was with her brothers and her mom. They were the only people who actually saw the potential she had. Evelyn was the first good thing to happen in her life as far as Chris was concerned and she would be her mother until the end of time.

After Chris there was Bobby. He was Chris's second favorite bother and the most annoying. He alway had something slick to say about everything and he was the one that understood Chris the most. Then there was Angel; the good looking brother others would say. He was Bobby's right hand and the neighborhood player. After him there was Jeremiah or Jerry as he was refered to. He was the non-screw up in the family; the momma's boy. Finally there was Jack her favorite brother. The musician and the youngest. She felt obligated to protect him and make sure he was always alright and to stand up for him when Bobby started to pick on him.  
They are the Mercers, the most dangerous sibblings that anyone could come across.

At home the house was crazy everyday and most days it smelled like a gym. Chris spent most of her time in her room painting, in Jack's room listening to him play the guitar, or hanging out with the rest of the trouble makers in town. After high school Chris moved from place to place never steady for too long. She'd call her mom every now and then to check up on her but she wouldn't go back home. She was a hustler in a general sense and she didn't want to be anything else.

* * *

**Back on track**...

Chris was sitting in her one bedroom apartment in Chicago sharpening her knife collection when she got the phone call. The only one with her number was Jack so she didn't pick up the phone when Jerry called instead she let it go to voice mail. After a few minutes she listened to the message.

"Chris? It's Jerry, I didn't want to do this over a voicemail but mom's dead. The funeral in this weekend, she'd want you home." And thats was it. Jerry sounded tired and sad. she didn't call him back, she didn't cry, she just picked up her phone to find out more information.

As far as Chris knew, her mom had never been seriously sick aside from the regular cold. Honestly, it was the way Jerry said the word 'dead' that pushed Chris to think it wasn't an accident.  
It wasn't the first time she'd heard that tone form someone in her family. They all knew certain things they shouldn't tell her because of the way she'd react but it never reallt mattered because she'd always find out anyway.

**For example**...

One day when she was sixteen she spent the day hanging out with her crew. When she got home at around eight, she saw everyone standing in the living room except Jack and Jerry. Everyone was looking at her weird even her mom.  
"Where's Jack?" she asked.  
"He's...in the bathroom." Angel answered. She always knew when angel was lying to her because he'd lick his lips and look down for a second.  
"Okay." there was a rustle in the kitchen and they all heard it.  
They didn't try to stop her from going in the kitchen. Jack was sitting at the kitchen table with Jerry standing next to him. Jack had and ice pack over his left eye.  
"Hey Chris."  
"Who did it?"  
"Noone...I just..."  
"Jack, who did it?"  
"I'm not going to tell you, you'll gust get in trouble."  
"Fine, you don't have to tell me." She grabbed his wrist and pulled the ice pack away from his face. His eye was dark black and swollen, not only that but she saw a dark bruise on his arm. "You should wrap that in a rag."  
She let his wrist go and headed up to her room.  
The next day at around the same time cops were at the house. Aparently the same guy that gave Jack the black eye ended up in the hospital with a broken leg and arm, a black eye, a busted lip, and a crack rib. The guy wouldn't talk and the cops had nothing but everyone knew who it was considering that Chris was missing for about an hour. Only problem was that everyone she hung out with was at the basketball court and all her brothers were at home....

**Back to the story...**

Chris made a couple dozen phone calls and finally found out. Her mom didn't just die, she was killed and Chris wasn't going to let her killer walk around like a free bird.


	3. Darin and the Funeral

A convenience store was the last place her mother was alive. That's all Chris could think about. One of the nicest people in the world gunned down in a convenience store. The thought of it made her blood boil as she drove.

After about four hours in the car she pulled up to an old friends house. Darin Brown was one of Chris's ex-boyfriends and the only one that wasn't in jail.  
She pulled up to his house and knocked on his front door.

"It's open!" She heard him call from inside. She walked in and saw him sitting on his couch watching t.v.

"Would have been to much for you to get your ass up and open the door?"

"When someone important enough comes knocking then maybe I'll open the door. How you been?" He got up and leaned against the arm of his couch in front of her.

"My mom's dead how do you think I've been?"

"I still can't believe she's gone." his green eyes looked directly into her grey ones.

"What do you know Darin?"

"Not much. There was a witness who told police that they saw two gang members enter the store. Basically a robbery gone bad."

"Who was the gang?"

"I don't know." he said crossing his arms over his chest.

"I want them dead Darin. I want them to wish they were dead." she said flatly.

"I expected nothing less, I got your back. Whatever you need if I can get it, it's yours."

"Thanks."

"You going to be at Jerry's until the funeral tomorrow?"

"I don't think so, I love Jerry too much to bring my crazy ass to his house for more than a few hours."

"You can stay here if you want."

"We both know how that'd end up." she said with a snicker.

"Maybe, but what's your other option?"  
She thought about it and knew the only other place in town was her mom's house and she knew should wouldn't be able to walk in there alone

"Fine.

* * *

She sat on Darin's bed as he slept on the couch. She couldn't sleep. Midnight had came and passed and all she could do was sit ans stare at the wall. It was almost Thanksgiving, a week ago she'd be planning to have a couple beers in her apartment with a pizza and call some guy she met a couple weeks ago.

She felt like she did when she saw Jack with that black eye. She needed to know who did it if it was the last thing she did.

* * *

The clock ticked by slowly as Chris got ready for the funeral.

"You're wearing jeans to your mother's funeral?" Darin asked.

"How do you think she'd feel if I wait till after she's dead to dress up for something?"'

"Good point. You going to Jerry's afterwards?"

"Yeah. Look I'm going to head out early, thanks for letting me stay over."

"You're not coming back?"

"You were the one I let go Darin. We both known what'll happen eventually. I can't deal with that. I need to know who killed my mom and I can't worry about you."

"Alright, I'll see you later then."

Chris got her stuff together and got in her car. She thought of going over to Jerry's but instead she just drove around the old neighborhood. Everything looked the same as it did the last time she was there.

After a while she drove to the funeral. She pulled up to the graveyard and couldn't make herself get out of the car. She sat there for what felt like a lifetime before she convinced herself to get out. People started to gather around the casket that held her mother. Most of the faces she recognized right off the bat but others she had to think about and some she didn't know at all.

There where three faces though that she'd never forget; Jeremiah, Bobby, and Jack Mercer. They were older but exactly the same. There was no time to talk. The ceremony started and they all stood next to each other looking down at their mother's casket.


	4. All except Angel

Chris just bit her bottom lip like she always did when she was upset. She didn't cry, or say anything, she just starred at the coffin. Jack was on her right, Bobby on her left with Jerry next to him. Angel still wasn't there.

All of Evelyn's friends were there, a few neighborhood kids, and some of the people she helped out over the years. A few people spoke and a girl from the neighborhood sang a song.

* * *

Aftwerward everone started to head over to Jerry's house. Chris was the last one to leave, still trying to figure out how this could happen. Finally she got in her car and headed over to Jerry's.

* * *

Green was an old family friend and now a cop. He was in the car with his new partner Fowler informing him on the Mercer's. Chris pulled up to Jerry's and saw him. She got out of the car and walked to Jack who was just lighting a cigarette.

"If I lose you to those things Jack I swear every smoke in the world is going to hate you when I take down the cigarette company."

"You're not going to lose me to these things. I've got lungs of steal." He said blowing out a big puff of smoke.

"Come give your big sister a hug." He flicked the ashes off the cigarette and pulled Chris into a hug. Jack towered her by a couple inches but he was still little brother to her.

'Aww, isn't that a sight?" Bobby commented walking over to them. "Big sister and little brother."

"Go to Hell Bobby."

"You first big sis." He hugged her too and placed his hand on top of Jack's head. "You two alright?"

Jack just nodded his head.

"Lets go see Jerry." Was all Chris said. She headed up the drive way were Jerry was talking to some of Evelyn's friend from work.

"Hey big sis. Nice of you to show." He said as the group of ladies went inside.

"Like I'd miss my own mother's funeral." she gave Jerry a hug as Jack and Bobby walked up to the both of them. Bobby and Jack hugged Jerry and they started joking around.

Chris occasionally glanced over at the car across the street the held two cops.

"C'mon lets go inside." Jerry suggested. The three followed Jerry inside the house.

Jack and Bobby went to the backyard to see the girls but Chris stayed inside.

"How you been Jerry?" she asked.

"I been good Chris. I gotta house, a family. What about you? I haven't seen you since you left."

"You know me Jerry. White picket fence with a dog and a pool." She said sarcastically.

"Ha. That'll be the day right?"

"She had to put at least one of us on the right path right Jerry. Just happened to be you."

"It could've have been you."

Chris laughed at this."No, no I lost the chance the moment I was concieved. This will probably never be me Jerry."

"You never know Chris."

"Yeah I do Jerry. But..."

"It's okay with you... yeah I know. It's always okay with you Chris."

"Not always Jerry. It's not okay when someone I care about gets gunned down in a conveinece store."

"Chris don't..."

"I'm gonna head outside with Bobby and Jack." She said cutting him off. She headed for the backyard before he could say anything else.

As she walked to Jack and Bobby she saw them talking to Green and Fowler and she heard part of their conversation.

"I didn't come back for a funneral." she heard Bobby say.

"Thanks for the offer but we got it under control." Fowler responded.

"I'm sure my brother wasn't making an offer." Chris eye the two cops. "Nice to see you Green."

"Chris, how you been?"

"You know me, all smiles and sunshine. Until someone decides it's alright to gun my mother down in a conveinece store."

"We got these punks, let us handle it. got a witness that says he saw two gangbanger enter the store around the time of the shooting."

"Forgive me if I don't trust Detroit's finest. I got away with a lot of things in this town because of dumbass cops who couldn't find tits in a strip joint. You expect me to trust you guys to find out who killed my mother?"

"Chris..."

"How about I make you a deal Green? You and your partner go inside get warmed up, grab something to eat and you can get back to work. and in return I'll try to leave Detroit in one piece when I leave."

With that the Mercers decided it was time to go back home.


	5. Home sort of

After leaving Jerry's house the four Mercers drove back to the house Evelyn raised them in. It felt weird being back there for both Bobby and Chris who hadn't been there since they first left Detroit.

The four of them all got out of the car and headed towards the house.

"Yall ain't right leavin me out here in the cold." Said a familiar voice as the four Mercers walked on the porch. Jerry turned on the porch light and they all saw the missing Mercer sitting on a chair in the corner.

There was a lot of cussing and hugging before the five of them walked in the house. The five of them stood at the foot of the stairs as if they had walked into the wrong house. For a second no one said anything and they all just stood.

"I don't know about yall but I'm hungry." Angel said breaking the silence. "I'm gonna get me something to eat. Yall wan't something?" Everyone shook their heads in response.

"I'm tired I'm going to head up. Jack you take your room, Angel you take ours I'll sleep in mom's room." Bobby instructed.

They all spilt up and settled down for a while. Chris could here Angel's radio on the other side of her wall playing the Temptations.

Her room was exactly how she left it. A painting easel with a half finished charcoal drawing that she had left. The lock box on her top shelf with her jewlery box next to it. A collage of pictures that she took of her brothers and her mom. She stood in front the pictures and remembered every moment that the picture was took.

Tears started rolling down Chris's cheeks without her permission. Chris hated crying no matter the reason, it made her feel weak and plain.

She wiped the tears away leaving no trace of moisture on her face. She left the room and walked across the hall to Jack's room. She knocked on the open door as he strummed his guitar. He looked up and half smiled at her.

"Can I come in?" she asked. He just nodded. She walked over and crawled on top of his bed sitting between him and the wall.

"Haven't seen you in a while Chris." He said still playing.

"Yeah." She laid her head on his shoulder. "But just because you can't see the wind doesn't mean it's not there."

He chuckled a little, shaking the bed. "You're always so poetic."

"That she is." Bobby was standing in the doorway looking at the both of them. "You should have became a writer big sis."

"Maybe I should have."

Bobby sat on the floor beside Jacks bed. "You two done crying in here?"

"Leave it alone man." Jack said sitting his guitar down and picking up a cigarette and lighting it. "Is it weird in moms room?"

"Aww, you have no idea. Everything's the same, she hasn't changed anything since we left."

"She was waiting for us to come home. Nothing in my room has been touched." Chris said.

They heard laughing coming from the doorway and Jerry was leaning against the door.

"What?" Bobby asked.

"Nothin man I'm just happy to be home, happy to see my family." Jerry said looking at the three of them.

"Happy to see you to Jerry." Bobby said.

"I guess I'll go get a turkey tomorrow so we can have thanksgiving dinner. Lets at least act like we're a real family for once."

Just then Angel walke dout of his room dressed as if he was about to go on a date.

"Where you going?" Bobby asked.

"Nowhere... you know I thought I'd go for a walk." He answered obviously lying. Everyone knew where Angel was going. His sometimes girlfriend since high school Sophie.

They all started laughing at Angels lie. "You know she got a boyfriend right?" Bobby asked still laughing.

"Man what are you talking about I'm just..."

"I can quarentee you right now that the last thing she's thinking about is your black ass!"

"I am not going to see that girl okay."

"No Angel we totaly believe you. Now I'm going to be late for ballet so I should go." Chris said still laughting with eveyone else.

"Man I told yall I'm not going to see that girl and I'm not!" He stormed off down stairs with his sibblings still laughing at him.

The four of them sat around in Jacks room for a while just talking.

"Alright I gotta go." Chris said crawling off of Jack's bed.

"Wait where are you going?"

"I don't answer to you Bobby Mercer. I'll see you guys in the morning."

Chris grabbed her keys reluctantly having to go into her room. She knew if she slept in there she would cry and she didn't want to cry. She walked to her car and drove to Darin's place. She didn't bother knocking on the door, instead she got the spare key from out of the mailbox and walked inside.

Surprisingly he wasn't alseep. He was sitting on his bed still watching T.V.

"Hey. What are..?" The lights were off but he could still see the tear roll down her cheek. He got off the bed and walked over to her. "Chris..."

"I can't sleep there."

"You can sleep here." he was standing right in front of her. Without thinking about it she fell into his arms and wrapped her arms around him.

She bit back her tears and just stood there. She pulled away and looked at him.

She had burried her mother a few hours earlier but right now she couldn't think about that. She pressed her lips to his as he slid off her jacket.

She didn't want to think about anything else. And even though she would never admit it, he was the only guy outside her brothers that she honestly cared about.

_**:A/N: I am so completely sorry that it took so long for me to get this chapter up. I've had a lot of things going on with finals and school. I'll get the next one up as soon as possible. I swear.** _


	6. Family

Chris woke up but didn't move. She just laid in Darin's arms for a while. She didn't want to return to the world. She wanted to pretend that she was back in high school and that her mother was still alive.

Then reality kicked in and she knew that neither one of those things were going to happen. She felt Darin waking up and decided she'd better get back home.

She picked up her clothes off the floor and went into the bathroom. After she put her clothes on she splashed water on her face and walked back out. Darin was sitting on the edge of the bed in a pair of jeans.

"Hey."

"Look Darin..."

"Don't go there Chris okay."

"Darin.."

"I get it okay."

"No you don't. I buried my mom yesterday, I shouldn't have..."

"You regret sleeping with me last night." he said, his voice sounded hurt.

"I regret coming here at all."

"That may fool everybody else Chris but it doesn't fool me. I'm over the 'I have no emotions' act you put on. I know you, I know you don't regret coming here and I know you'd do the same thing over if given the chance."

"I should go." she headed for the door but Darin beat her there. "Move Darin."

"No. I wan't you to admit it."

"Admit what?"

"That your sad, that you have emotions, that you love me like I know you do!"

"No."

"Have you even cried Chris?"

"That's not your business. Now move."

"I can't, not unless you say it."

"Why do you care all of a sudden?"

"I've always cared! You're the one who always ran before you could see that!"

"Move I need to leave."

"No."

"Damn it Darin move the fuck out of my way!"

"Make me."

She felt so angry and without even realizing what she was doing she punched him in the jaw hard. She knew as soon as she did it that he'd be bleeding. And sure enough when he moved his hand away from his mouth there was blood on his palm from his mouth.

He reached behind himself and opened the door for her. She didn't say anything as she walked out but she heard him say something that sounded like _'I can't take this shit anymore.'_

Chris got in her car and headed home, her hand still throbbing from the punch. She could hear yelling even before she even got to the porch. Bobby were going at it about Sophie staying there.

Chris walked right through the yelling and headed for the kitched and threw a couple of ice cubes in a rag holding it against her hand. She walking in the living room and sat next to Jack on the couch and watched Bobby and Angel bicker like a married couple while Sophie cussed Bobby out in spanish.

Finally Angel gave up and pushed Sophie up stairs. Bobby had a hockey stick in one of his hands and a small plastic ball in the other.

"Where you been?" He asked Chris dropping the plastic ball on the floor.

"You wan't the answer I gave last night or you want me to ignore your question all together?" She replied sarcastically.

"What happened to your hand?" this time Jack asked.

"Slammed it in the car door."

"Looks more like you slammed into someone's face."

"Think what you want Bobby."

"Wait I think I know. Jerry what was that dudes name that always hung around Chris even after she dumped his ass."

"Darin?"

"Thats it. What happened Chris? Darin still following you around like a puppy dog so you put him in his place."

Chris didn't respond, instead she looked at Bobby coldly clenching her jaw. "I'm gonna get dinner started." she finally said.

Chris got up and stood right in front of Bobby. "You gonna hit me big sis?" He said challenging her.

"The simple fact that you're my brother Bobby is the only reason I haven't put you hospital already."

"Ooo, I'm scared now." he said grinning.

"Go fuck yourself Bobby." Chris headed for the kitchen and started chopping all of the vegatables like she used to.

"Don't listen to Bobby, Chris." Jerry walked in the kitchen and took the turkey out of the fridge.

"Do I ever?"

"He was right wasn't he?"

"No. I punched him because he loved me." She could feel Jerry's eyes on her, looking at her in confusion.

"That make perfects sense Chris." he said sarcastically.

"It does to me. Now he hates me."

"Chris..."

"Your don't get it Jerry. I can't be in love okay. I don't know how, thats not me."

"Everyone loves someone Chris."

"I'm not saying I don't know how to love, I'm saying I don't know how to be _in love_ or if I even want to."

"Well you obviously are in love with darin otherwise you wouldn't have punched him."

"I can't, I can't be open with someone like that.."

"So you push him away."

"Exactly."

Chris didn't say anything else after that. Her and Jack finished dinner while Jerry, Angel and Bobby played around in the living room.

After all the food was done and the table was set the five Mercers gathered around the table where Bobby said grace. They all sat down when Bobby was done. They all chose to ignore the elephant in the room _(the only empty chair at the head of the table where their mom would have sat.)_

The only sound was forks and plates klinking together and chewing. Chris tried hard not to think about her mom but she could practically hear her telling her to get her hair out of her face while she ate. Instinctivly she tucked her hair behind her ears. She had stopped eating and was now picking at her food with her fork practically forcing herself to stay seated at the table for her mother's sake.

Finally she couldn't do it anymore and she knew she wasn't the only one. Bobby was doing the same thing she was doing and Jack was forcing food into his mouth.

"To hell with this man." Bobby said right before chris was about to get up and leave. "Lets got find us a pick up game, grab a couple of sticks and show these guys some skills!" He got up from the table and went up stairs to get ready.

Angel helped Chris clear the table and then got ready himself. Chris waited for them downstairs with her coat.

They all headed for the park's hockey rink. There were already a few guys there playing. Bobby, Angel, Jack, and Jerry headed for the ice while Chris sat on the bench and watched. It was a brutal game but funny as hell for Chris.


	7. Quiet before the Storm

After the hockey game they had to go meet some lawyer to talk about Evelyn's estate. He sat across from the five Mercers and explain how things were going to work. After going over a bunch of legal mumbo-jumbo he started giving his condolences.

Chris sat between Angel and Bobby not really paying attention to what this guy was saying.

"How much do we get?" Jack asked. Bobby smacked him upside the head and usually Chris would have hit Bobby but insetead she sat back in her chair and waited for the meeting to be over.

"Um. . . here is your mother's safety depoit box. I'll leave you to go through it by yourselves." He left the room after placing the box on the table.

Bobby stood up and opened it goting through it. He handed Jerry his birth certificate and Jack his adoption papers.

"I got any papers in there?" Angel asked. Bobby just shook his head. "You got any papers in there?" Bobby shook his head again.

Chris didn't bother asking if she had papers in there because she already knew the answer. She already had that talk with her mother. No one knew where her birth certificate was and no one could get ahold of her father to ask what hospital she'd been born in and with no birth certificate there was no adoption papers. Legally she was a ghost, she'd never even been arrested (which says a lot about the legal system considering the things she's done).

"Here we go." Bobby pulled out a roll of cash and started counting it. He split it up and and handed it to his siblings except for Jack.

"Hey what do I get?" Jack asked. Chris just shook her head hand split her share with him.

After leaving Jerry decided to take them to his property.

"Here is its!" Jerry siad as the five of them walked into an old warehouse.

"So this is your dream huh Jerry? There's a lot of space in here what are you gonna do with it?" Jack asked.

"Luxury lofts. Over there iz gonna be business offices, put some stained glass over there."

"This building is condemed you got insurence?" Bobby asked as Jerry showed them around the building telling them about what he was gonna do.

"Why you wanna know if I got insurence?"

"I'm just saying you could burn thid place down."

"You aint burnin shit down, you always wanna destroy something."

"Look at your little brother."

Jack was in the corner taking a piss and drinking a beer.

"Jack!" Jerry yelled whick made Chris, Bobby and Angel laugh.

"Oh I'm sorry is this the master suite?" He said taking a swig of his beer.

"How you gonna pay for all this Jerry?" Bobby asked.

"Government redevelopment loans, it's easy to qualify, low intrest rates. If yall stick around I might give yall ass a job."

"C'mon lets go get a real drink." Chris said heading for the door.

**A/N: Sorry its took so long for me to get this chapter up. I've had problems with my computer but it's fixed now.**


	8. Down to business

After leaving the warehouse the five Mercers went to a local bar for a few drinks.

"Attention! I'd like to make a toast to Evelyn Mercer, the greatest mother five degenerate bastards could have."

They all drank their whiskey and lined their glasses up for another round. "Let's go for the next round Johnny and a nice tall glass of milk for my little sister Jack."

"Man I would drink you under the table."

"Quiet both of you because we all know who the strongest drinker is over here." Chris said downing her drink quickly and slaming the glass down in the counter for another.

"Yeah well you don't count." Bobby said taking another drink.

"And why is that Bobby?" Chris asked waiting for him to say something slick.

"Because for all we know you were born with a beer in your hand."

"Johnny bring me a shot of tequila and leave the bottle please. And put it on the Jackass's bill."

"Gotcha."

"What's the point of a shot if you're going to just drink the whole bottle?" Jack asked.

"It paces me Jackie." Chris said taking the shot Johnny put in front of her. "C'mon let's get a table."

The five Mercer's took a table and started talking and ordering drink after drink. About halfway through her bottle of tequila and still sober Jack was already speaking gibberish.

"That's your brother." Jerry said to Chris causeing her to laugh.

"Jack licks ass crack and ballsack." Bobby said taking another drink.

"Jack doesn't lick ass crack and ball sack. Jack likes boobs, Jack's got fans. Jack's got lots of fans."

"Would you shut up man." said Angel who was leaning back in his chair looking annoyed.

"Why is it you're the only one not drinking?" Bobby asked Jerry who had the same beer in his hand since they sat down.

"I am drinking man I'm just not as crazy as yall. I'm glad yall here I love yall."

"We love you too Jerry."

"It's real messed up what happened to your mom guys. Fucking gangs, worms. Someone oughta step up." Johnny said walking over to the Mercer's table.

"Which gangs Johnny G?" Chris asked.

"Ah shit here we go, I knew it." Jerry complained

"I think I heard something, the neighborhood's really upset about this."

"Same ol' Chris. Momma always said as smart as you are you just let you're anger get the best of you. Let the police do their damn jobs."

Chris took another shot and said, "Save it for someone who cares Jerry."

"Half the cops in this town are crooked, you think they'll give two shits about another liquor store hold up." Bobby said

"I'm tellin you Green is on our side on this one."

"Green? She's the only one that ever gave a damn man. The least we can do is bang on a few doors and see what happens, we owe her that much." Angel replied.

"We owe her much more then that. Think about where the five of us would be if it wasn't for her. The street's, Jail, in a casket."

"Why you acting like such a bitch Jerry?" Bobby asked.

"Oh okay so what? Yall just gonna shoot up the whole town cause yall mad?"

"Why not?"

"C'mon man, the dudes that did this are probably from the shitty ass streets we from and mom would have been the first to forgive 'em and yall know that."

"We can't all be saints Jerry."

"Alright, alright cool but this aint like Jack coming home with a black eye or some guys jumpin Angel cause he slept whith their girlfriends. We ain't in high school."

"You're right Jerry. You are absolutely right. We're not in high school and this isn't about a black eye or some assholes bruised egos. This is about someone thinking they can get away with killing my mother and I won't let them walk around with their heads up high while my mother sits in the damn ground and the cops walk around this damn place with their heads up their ass. I will turn this place upside down if have to."

Jerry got up form his chair and grabbed his jacket. "Fine, don't call me when yall get shot up. This is Detroit in case yall forgot."

"Johnny tell us what's going on." Angel said as soon as Jerry left.

Johnny pulled up a chair and the Mercer's sat up in their chairs to get the information. "You wanna know what I heard..."

Johnny filled them in on the gang and where they humg out.


	9. The court

After their conversation with Johnny Bobby, Angel, and Jack decided to pay a visit to the Street King's party place. Chris on the other hand got a text from Darin and decided to go see what he found out.

She pulled up to his house reluctantly and and saw that all the lights were on. She stopped at the door and took a deep breath before walking in. Darin was sitting on his couch focused on his laptop until Chris walked into the living room.

"Hey." he said looking at could see the gash on his lip where she had punched him that morning.

"You said you had something?" she said getting down to business.

"Yeah, The Street Kings." he turned is attention back to the laptop in front of him.

"I already know about them." she leaned against the wall keeping her distance from him.

"You do?" he asked curiously.

"We were over at Johnny's place and he filled us in."

"Yeah well there's something that's not right."

"What is it?"

"Time of death says your mom and the clerk were killed at eleven and the witness said that he was playing basketball across the street."

"Okay..."

"As far as I know the court lights go out at ten. Who play's basketball in the dark?"

Chris thought about it for a second before saying. "Are you sure?"

"Not really I texted you as soon as I had this."

Chris looked at her watch and saw that it was only a quarter to ten. "Thanks for letting me know."

"I told you I'd help you any way I can."

"Darin. . ."

He shook his head and said, "Don't Chris, I don't want to hear it. You made your point okay, I'm done trying to win you over."

"Look, I'm sorry I didn't mean to. . ."

"Yeah I know, you were just angry. I guess I'm lucky all I got was a punch in the mouth"

"You cornered me,pressured me I was angry so I reacted!" she said frustrated

"You're right, my bad for giving a damn about you!"

"It's not about that. . ."

"It is about that and you know it! That punch was just a way to push me away but don't worry it worked. I'll keep digging into your mom's case but you won't have to worry about me _cornering_ you anymore."

She gave up and took a deep breath "Is that it?"

"No. You left your jacket here." he nodded over to one of the chairs in the dining room.

Chris grabbed her jacket and turned to him. He refused to look at her and kept typing away. She could see him clenching his jaw like he always did when he was frustrated. Deciding that there was nothing else to say to him Chris walked out the door.

She got in her car and decided to head over to the basketball court. There was no one on there when she parked her car and there was about five minutes until ten so she sat and waited. Soon after she got there another car pulled up and four people got out the car. At first Chris couldn't recognize them or the car until one of the guys started yelling.

Chris got out of the car and walked over to her little brothers. "What's going on over here?" she asked Bobby.

"This is is the leader of the Street Kings apparently and we were just telling him that if these court light don't go out ten that he'd better start praying." Angel had the boy but the collar of his jacket.

"Leader my ass. This boy isn't any older than fourteen, I bet he doesn't even know what a gun looks like." Chris said looking at the boy. He gave her a dirty look and clenched his jaw like he was about to take a swing at her. "You got a problem little boy?" She took out her hunting knife and put the blade under his chin.

"My sister asked you a question bitch!" Angel said shaking his collar.

"That's okay Angel because if these light don't go out I'll put the bullet in his head myself." She took the knife and placed it back in it's holster and walked over to Jack.

"How'd you know about the court?" Jack asked taking a puff of his cigarette.

"I have my ways Jack."

"It's fucking ten o' one and these lights aint out! Man lets pop this motherfucker." Bobby said pulling his gun out of his waist.

"Hold on Bobby."

"Shut up Jack." Bobby grabbed the boys sleeve and started dragging him away.

"Hold up man they gonna turn off man wait!" His voice was panicked and he knew that they weren't playing around.

Bobby kept walking and said "The only light that are going off are yours."

"Just wait man look they're gonna turn off!" Just as he said that the court light shut off.

"Bobby!"Chris said grabbing his attention. "Let the boy go."

Bobby turned around with a pissed expression on his face. He looked over Chris and she knew what he was thinking; questionable kill.

"Man I told you, man get off me! Yall don't know who yall messin wit!" Chris walked over to the boy as he was ranting about who he was and what he was gonna do and punched him square in the jaw so hard she felt the bone crack.

As he fall to the ground Chris looked at him and said, "You talk to damn much."

"Chris..." Jack started but she didn't want to hear it.

"I'll see you guys at home." She stepped over the unconscience boy to her car and headed home.

She was in the kitchen sitting at the table drinking a beer when they walked in. She could here Sophie and Angel running up the stairs and Bobby explain to Jack what a questionable kill was.

"Sometimes pros'll cover up their shots with another crime and then pay off a witness to throw the cops onto the wrong suspect." The two walked into the kitchen with Chris.

"But whay would anyone want to kill the sweetest women in the god damn world?"

"I don't know Jackie, I don't know."

Chris downed the rest of her beer and said "We need to find that damn witness."

"How the hell did you know about the court!" Bobby asked sounding agrivated.

"I have my ways Bobby."

"Bullshit let me guess, Darin? what you punch him and then ask for his help? Classy Chris."

"I've punched two people today Bobby you wanna make it three?"She got up and was standing in his face waiting for him to move so she could go upstairs. he raised his arms in a surrendering jesture and moved.

Chris was tired and didn't want to have to deal with anything for the rest of the day. After changing into a pair of boxers and a t-shirt she laid in her bed wanting to go to sleep but her mind wouldn't let her. No matter what she did anger was hanging over her like a shadow and refused to go away.

_**"**_**_Someone hired people to kill your mother and your laying in your bed! Where the hell were you? Why didn't you protect her? Why did they do it? Why aren't you doing something?" _**

They were all flowing in and out of her head not letting her sleep and causing tears to run down her face like a river. Finally in the thoughts and in the crying she fell asleep. But with the sleep the nightmares came back. . .


	10. Nightmares

_"I'm Sorry!Please stop!" The __six year old cried begging her father to let go. He had her by the hair and was dragging her out of her room._

_There were beer cans and bottles all over, needles and drugs scattered across the glass coffee table._

_"Shut the hell up! You stupid bitch!" he yelled his voice bouncing off the walls. _

_"Ah! Daddy please don't!" A wave of pain fell over her face as he slapped her. _

_She shut up only letting small sobbs out. She knew there was nothing she could do to stop him now. No amount of crying or begging would prevent the kicks or the punches._

_He slapped her again harder then before this time causing her to taste blood in her mouth. Her face was wet from tears and nose was starting to drip blood too. He let go of her hair and she fell to the floor. Suddenly all the air in her lungs were gone and her stomach ached; he kicked her. She could see him ready to kick her again out the corner of her eyes and screamed._

_"I said shut up!" His voice boomed again as he grabbed her hair again and lifting her up. H__e grabbed her arms and squeezed so tight you'd think he was going to break them. "SHUT UP!" he screamed shaking her violently. She let out a fearful shreak and looked into his cold dark eyes. He face filled with hatred and unfamiliarity._

_There was a giant crash of glass breaking that mixed with a little girls scream. Her vision blurred and then everything went dark. He had pushed her onto the glass coffee table. The glass broke under her peircing her back along with the needles. _

* * *

Chris sat straight up in her bed breathing heavily. She waited for the dream to pass before even moving. She wiped the sweat off her forehead with the back of her hand and looked at her clock '6:32' was the time. There was no way she'd get any sleep after that so she grabbed some clothes and got up to take a shower.

She listened to the silent house, not one sound except for Bobby's light snoring. As she got in the shower she stopped and looked at the cluster of scars on her back. The constant reminder of that day. No matter how many times she tried to forget him or what happend, no matter how many terrible foster homes she'd been to, not matter how long she went without having a nightmare they were always there.

After getting out of the shower she grabbed a bowlof cereal and sat on the couch and flipped through the channels. After about two hours she heard lazy footsteps coming down the stairs and for about two second she thought it was her mom until reality his her. Jack drgged himself down the stairs and walked into the kitchen and poured himself a bowl of cereal and sat next to Chris.

"You're up early." He said with a slight yawn.

"I couldn't sleep." She said flipping between infomercials.

Jack studied her for a second and then put his bowl of cereal on the table. "You had the nightmare again didn't you?" Besides Evelyn Jack was the only person Chris had told about it.

"Yeah, I did."

"But you said. . ."

"I know what I said Jack." he scooted closer to her and grabbed her hand. She laid her head on his shoulder. "I should have been home. I should have. . ."

"You didn't know Chris. None of us did."

"I always thought that I was gonna die before her. As reckless as I am I was always scared that I'd disappoint her. But I never thought. . . I guess I always figured she'd be here."

"Me too."

"You deserve much more then what life has given you but I cant change that now. . ." Chris started reciting the lines their mother would say when someone was supset or got in trouble.

"I can only give you a future that you've never would have seen for yourself. . ." Jack continued.

"Because you deserve it." They both looked towards the stairs to see Bobby standing there. "You're up early Chris. It used to take an army to wake you up."

"Times have changed, I've changed."

"Not as much as you think you have."

"I'm gonna regret this but go ahead Bobby tell me how much I havn't changed." she said rolling her eyes.

"You still would do anything for us, you're still our big sister, and you're still the craziest bitch I know."

Chris didn't know what to say, she was expecting Bobby to say something slick. "We need to find that witness Bobby."

"Can't your little puppy dog look it up."

Chris thought about it for a second and she didn't want to see Darin and she was sure he didn't want to talk to her. "He's woking."

"Working on healing his face after the punch you gave him?" Chris gave him a dark looktelling him to drop it. "Fine, but what other choice do we have?"

Chris thought for a second and the plan she came up with was the last thing she wanted to do. "The owner of the store would know who the witness was. . . he'd also have the security tape from that night."

"You sure you wanna do that?" Jack asked.

"Am I sure I want to see our mother die on some stupid corner store security tape? No, I don't but if it gets us closer to the son of a bitch that killed her. . ."

"Alright I'll take a shower and call Jerry." Bobby said starting back up the stairs

"I'll wake up Angel." Jack said following behind him leaving Chris alone on the couch.

After a few minutes Chris decided to go back up to her room. She looked under her bed and grabbed an old shoe box. Inside it were a bunch of old notebooks filled with her thoughts. She grabbed the one on top and flipped to the last page with writing on it and read it. Her last entry was the day before she left for good, she was upset but happy at the same time and her writing reflected it. She could remember the proud look in her mothers eyes and her wanting to cook something special for Chris and running around town looking for the right ingredients. Jack's brooding face every time her departure was mentioned and him dropping not so subtle hints that he didn't want her to go.

Then Jack knocked on her door forcing her to be pulled away from her memories. She quickly closed the notebook, put it back in the shoe box ad shoved the old box back under the bed.

"Yeah?" she called sitting on top of her bed.

"We're ready to go. Jerry's gonna meet us at the store."

"Ok let me grab few things and I'll meet you guys down stairs."

"Kay, Chris are you. . ."

"I'm fine." she answered quickly anticipating his question.

"Okay."

Once he was gone she grabbed her jacket, keys and cell phone before heading down stairs to Bobby's car. The four of them sat in silence as the drove to meet their brother at the place where there mother was killed.


	11. The truth

Jerry showed up about ten minutes after Bobby, Jack, Angel and Chris had got there.

"Hey, yall sure yall want to do this?" Jerry asked.

"We don't have a choice Jerry." Chris asked.

Just then the owner of the store walked up.

"Can I help you?" he asked.

"Yes sir Evelyn Mercer was our mother."

"Oh yes come come inside."

"We know you must be busy but we were hoping to see the security tapes from that night." Chris said solemnly once they were all inside.

"Are you sure? It is one thing to hear of the death of a loved one it is another to actually see it."

Chris looked at her little brothers who were looking at her to see what she would say. Finally she took a deep breath and said "We're sure."

He just nodded and walked behind the counter. He pulled out a VHS and popped it into the player.

The fiver Mercers had all of their attention on the monitor.

_Evelyn walked into the store and started dealing with a petty case of sticky fingers. She convinced the boy to apologize and gave him one of those speaches about being better and how he was smarter then that. She chatted with the cashier for a while and then headed for the thanksgiving turkeys._

_Then two guys dressed in dark clothes with ski mask over their faces pulled guns out and pointed them at the cashier, Evelyn hiding behind one of the isle's. They grabbed the money from the cash register and shot the cashier twice. Then they headed down the isle where Evelyn was and stood before her like giants before shooting her too._

'This doesn't make sense. They've already got the money' Chris thought to herself.

The monitor went black. No one said anything for a while then Bobby cleared his throat.

"Cops said there was a witness?" he said pushing back the tears.

"Yes, guys comes in after the game to buy Gateraide and sometimes dog food. He always wears sweats never jacket even in rain or snow and he has a . . . a " he motioned to his head to try to explain.

"A fro? Like and Afro? Like Ben Wallace?" Angel said.

"Yes, yes. Pistons."

"Do you know where we might find him?" Chris asked.

"There's a game over at the gym at the school."

"Thanks."

They all headed outside of store and started heading for the school.

"There's noway this is just a robbery, it was an execution. They set mom up." Chris said through her teeth.

"What's the plan?" Jerry asked as they stood looking on at the game.

"We're winging it Jerry." Bobby answered.

"Yall can't always wing it."

Bobby ignored him and started walking into the middle of the court. The referee blew the whistle and the whole crowed started booing Bobby as he interrupted their game.

"We're gonna get killed." Jack said looking around nervously.

"Don't worry Jack, just stay close to me. Angel you go around back in case anyone decides to end out a warning."

"Alright."

Chris and Jack scanned the stands to look for anyone looking suspicious as Bobby continued to agitate the crowed. He was waving is gun around with Jerry in his ear trying to calm him down.

"Look," Jack sad tapping Chris' shoulder. He was pointing at a kid who looked pissed off but not about the basketball game. He was heading towards the door with his things.

"C'mon let's go see where he's headed." They headed after him as he walked down the hall. "Keep following him this way.

Chris turned down a different hallway to cut the kid off in case he started to run.

"Hey Kid!" she heard Jack's voice and then the sound of running. She looked around the corner and saw the kid heading her way. She took her knife out and waited for him to get closer. As he was passing her she grabbed his book-bag and pulled him back putting her knife to his throat to keep him still.

"You going somewhere?" She asked pushing him up against the wall. "Jack go get the others, I have a feeling this kid has something to tell us."

Jack back towards the court as Angel walked through the doors. He had seen the Chris pull the knife and decided to check out what was going on.

"What do we have here?" He asked walking up next to Chris.

"I don't know yet. What's your name kid?" He didn't say anything. "Look, I'm not it the best of moods right now kid and I really don't want to hurt you. So tell me your name."

"Keenan."

"Keenan, ok we're off to a good start."

Bobby, Jerry, and Jack walked over to them. The five of them together circling Keenan.

"What's this?" Bobby asked.

"Guy's this is Keenan. I got the feeling he was about to go deliver a message to someone. Now Keenan, we're not gonna hurt you or whoever you're protecting. We just need to ask them a few questions. Who is he Keenan?"

"Damion, he's my brotha."

"I understand, these are my brothas." He looked at the five of them.

"Naw man, he's my real brotha"

"Yeah these are my real brothas. I'm Chris, this is Angel, Bobby, Jack and Jeremiah. Does your brotha live with you?"

"Yeah, but I aint tellin you nuthin else."

"That's cool." Chris reached for his book bag and handed it to Bobby.

"I wouldn't sell out my family either."

"Looks like we gotta report card."

"I know where this is. He lives over in the Gardens." Jerry said looking at the paper.

"Ok, let's go. We just wanna talk him ok. Don't worry Keenan."

He nodded as Chris and Bobby headed for the door. Jerry, Jack, and Angel followed behind after screwing with Keenan for a while.


	12. The witness

They headed back to Bobby's car and waited outside the Gardens for Damian to show up.

* * *

"I just don't get it. Why would someone hire a killer to shoot mom?" Jerry said sitting in the back seat.

"Here's an idea how about we wait for this son of a bitch to get here and ask him."

"Man yall do what you gotta do, I got gymnastics man. Let me out."

Bobby and Angel snickered."You got your leotard on Jerry?"

"Go to hell man you know what I mean. Girls got a schedule, they got gymnastics I gotta take'em. C'mon," Bobby got out the car and let Jerry out the car.

"Why don't you take Cracker Jack with you, he's very flexible?" Bobby

"Shut up Bobby you're the one who took ballet."Jack aid defensively.

"Alright Jerry."

"Alright guys." Jerry ran across the street to his car and drove away.

* * *

Chris sat in her car behind Bobby's and waited. She waved to Jerry as he left and turned her radio.

Then she saw the dude and turned her car off and walked over to Bobby's window, knocking on it.

She waited for her brothers to get out of the car before following Damian in to the apartment building. When they caught up to him he was about to get on the elevator.

"Hey Damian!" Bobby called as he pulled put his gun and held it up. The dude saw the gun and panicked, the second the elevator doors opened he flew in and jammed on the close button.

"Damnit Bobby why the hell do you always have to pull out that fucking gun!" Chris yelled as they ran towards the elevator. They got there as soon as the door was closing. "Shit! Bobby you and Angel start running up the stairs Jack and I'll tell you when it stops. Go!"

Bobby and Angel shot towards the stairs as Chris and Jack waited for the light on the elevator to stop. Jack stood jittery and counting under his breath but Chris just stood quietly and waited. Sixth floor, that's when it stopped. Jack ran to the stairs,

"Six! It stopped at six!" he yelled up to them. "C'mon."

"No, we'll never make it up there in time to do anything even in the elevator. Stay in here and wait for them."

"Where are you going?"

"I'm just going outside for a minute. Stay here in case the ass-hole comes down."

"Ok."

Chris walked outside for some air to clear her heard. After a while She heard gun shots that sounded like they were close. She stood closer to the wall and took her gun out. She walked along the wall to the corner where the shots were coming from and could hear Bobby yelling.

She looked around the corner and saw the guy hanging from a rope trying to climb down, he had a gun and was shooting up at Bobby who was shooting down at him. Chris pulled out her cell phone and called Angel.

"What?"

"Cut the damn rope!"

"Where are you?"

"I'm outside watching Bobby waste bullets. Cut the damn rope and let the motherfucker fall."

Angel hung up the phone and the next thing Chris knew the dude was falling and hit the ground hard. She ran over to him and picked up is gun on the way.

"That looks like it hurt." She said looking down at him. The bone in his leg was sticking right out and bleeding.

"Please, please call 911." he begged clutching his leg.

"I will, as soon as you tell me who paid you to lie to the cops."

"I-I don't know what you're talking about c'mon call an ambulance."

Chris was starting to get angry and was tempted to just shoot the bastard right there but then she wouldn't have anymore leads. She knelt down next to him and grabbed is injured leg and squeezed it. Damian let out a loud scream in pain.

"Do I look like a fucking idiot to you? Now whoever shot up that liquor store a few weeks ago paid you to tell the cops that it was a gang shooting. I want their names and were I can find them!"

"Please j-just call me an ambulance."

"What do you think should I call and ambulance?" she asked her brothers as they walked over to her.

"You mean for my dog bites? Nah I'm find."

"C'mon man."

"Who paid you?" Angel yelled.

He didn't answer so Chris squeezed his leg again but harder this time. He let out another scream but didn't say anything.

"You know what fuck this. Let's go, this son of a bitch isn't gonna say anything so let's just leave his ass here. With this wind and snow he'll be dead within the hour." Chris said standing up and walking away. her brothers followed behind her.

"Are we really gonna leave him there?" Jack asked as soon as they were out of ear shot.

"No, we're just gonna wait for him to crack."

"How do you know he will?"

"With that Chinese spare rib poking out if is leg? It's not gonna take long." Bobby said.

Jack looked back to Damian laying on the ground.

"Well don't look at him you jackass!" Angel yelled hitting him on the shoulder.

"C'mon man, ok-ok I'll tell you! I'll tell you everything please!" Damian called.

"Let's go." Chris walked back over to him, her brothers behind her.

"I'll tell you just call me an ambulance."

"No, no. Tell me who paid you and where I can find them and depending on if I think you're telling me the truth or not I'll call an ambulance." He hesitated and thought for a second. "Or I could just shoot your other leg, then I'll shoot your arm and so on until you tell me what the hell I want to know!"

"Ok."

He spilled everything right there and told them everything he knew. He even threw in a description of the guys.

After explaining to him that if he told the cops about them they would kill him without a second thought Jack called the hospital and made them aware of a failed suicide attempt in the gardens.

_**A/N: I know this chapter is long over due but school has me swamped. I promise to get the next one up faster.**_

_**-3bz.  
**_


	13. Temper, Temper

Chris' hand twitched for her gun and they drove toward the strip club. The anger she'd been holding in wanted to boil over as they got closer to the assholes who shot her mother. It started to flood her ears like the snow from a disconnected channel on a tv. She tried to calm herself down by taking deep breaths and biting her lip other wise her anger would anger the best of her again.

"Chris? Chris!" Bobby's voice faintly rang in her ears.

"What?"

"You're bleeding." She'd bitten down on her lip to hard which led to a small drop to drip down her chin.

The wiped her lip with the back of her hand and kept taking deep breaths. Bobby looked over at her face and then suddenly pulled the car over.

"What the hell are you doing? We're almost there?"

"Brian McCray."

"What?"

"Brian McCray do you know who that is?"

"What the hell? Bobby have you lost your damn mind or something?"

"Answer the question!"

"No! I don't now will you drive the fucking car already."

"When you were sixteen you beat him so bad you put him in a coma for a week."

"What the fuck are you talking about Bobby?"

"The guy who cut up Jerry in a fight?" Angel asked.

"Yeah."

"I still don't see..."

"I want to find out who killed mom and why!"

"And I don't?"

"You look like you're about to jump out of your skin.

"I can't believe this. You're lecturing me! Right now?"

"I was there Chris! I saw you beat that kid within an inch of his life."

"So what? Like you haven't done worst!"

"This difference is I actually have control over what I'm doing. I'm not going to let you shoot up a room full of people and let the only chance of finding out who hired these guys get away."

"Well the temperature in hell must've went down two degrees because it sounds like Bobby Mercer's trying to think logically."

"Screw you Chris."

"No screw you Bobby! If you think for a second I'm gonna let the son of a bitch that killed my mother get away you're seriously delusional. I can control my anger ok!"

"Like your dad could?"

Chris' blood ran cold when he said that. She never told any of her brothers about her dad except for Jack but he wouldn't say anything especially to Bobby.

"I swear to God Bobby you better watch what you say next." she said through her teeth.

"You tried so hard to keep us in the dark about you. Telling us you didn't know who your dad was but you did."

Her head started spinning "Bobby." she whispered.

"You'd be surprised at what you hear through the walls. I know about the nightmares about your dad."

"Shut up."

"I know what he did."

"Stop." she pleaded. She knew Bobby he'd tell everyone in the world if given the chance.

"The reason you wouldn't go swimming with us in the summer it was becau..."

"SHUT UP!" she yelled as she pulled out her gun and pointed it at his head. "Shut your damn mouth or I will put a bullet right between your eyes."

"Chris what are you..."

"Stay out of this Jack."Bobby ordered. "You might as well shoot me big sis because the only place I'm driving is home to drop you off."

Chris clicked the safety off. She couldn't feel anything now nothing but calm. Her breathing steadied, her hand stopped shaking like if she moved she would explode. Her vision was disappearing; all she could see was the gun. Something in her screamed for her to pull the trigger. The gun started to feel heavy in her hand and she realized that there was no way she'd be able to shoot her brother. Even though he was the biggest pain the ass she'd ever met and if it were anyone else he'd already be dead and buried, he was her little brother and family meant everything to her.

Chris but her gun down and left the car. She could barely see with all of the snow that was coming down but she didn't care. She started walking in the opposite direction. Bobby started the car and headed for the strip club without Chris.

She walked for a while trying to clear out her head but nothing worked. She kept walking because she had no where else to go. Everyone she knew was in jail or long gone, Darin was out of the question, and home just didn't feel like home anymore.

After about an hour she ended up in the park by her old high school. She sat on one of the swings and started to think about how pathetic she was acting. She wasn't thinking clearly anymore and as much as it made her sick to admit she was starting to act like her father and that scared her more than anything else.

* * *

After about an hour of sitting on the same swing in a blizzard she headed home. When she got there the guys still weren't home so she went up stairs and took a long warm shower. After putting on a pair of sweats she went into her room and locked the door. She laid down grabbed her sketch pad from the side of her bed. She sat there with a pencil sketching whatever came to mind to try and get rid of some of her thoughts

Times passed slowly as she started to drift off to sleep. And with everything that has happened she was sure to have nightmares.


	14. Cool Down

**14**

_"CHRIS STOP!" Bobby's voice rung in her ears but she couldn't stop her fist. Blood was everywhere and she would here him crying out for help but it's like her body wouldn't listen to her brain._

_She felt Bobby tugging on her shoulder but she wouldn't budge. She kept punching and punching until her chest started to tighten up and she couldn't breathe. She stepped back and stared blankly at what she did. She was covered in blood and sweat as she looked down at Bobby who was trying to see if the guy was still breathing._

"_What the hell did you do! Chris!" She heard his words but she could comprehend __what he was saying to her. _

_She looked at the body on the ground of the guy she had just beaten half to death.__ She tried to remember getting there but she couldn't. She remembered Jerry being in the hospital and that was it._

_"You're just like your father." the words rang in her ears over and over getting louder. She cupped her hands over her ears but it didn't work, it just kept getting louder until it shook the ground and made her whole body shake. She tried to cry out but her voice got lost in the words. "You're just like your father!"_

_The words weighed her down bringing her to her knees. She felt like she was going to suffocate under the pressure._

Chris woke up in a cold sweat, fighting back the urge she had to cry. She rolled out of bed and walked over to her mirror. There had never been a time when she couldn't look herself in the face except for now. She knew if she looked into that mirror she'd see her father's eyes.

"Police in the house!" Angel's voice rang through the house.

Chris threw on some jeans and a black tank top before heading down stairs. She lingered on the last step her blood already boiling as she listened to the guys talk about last night.

"If that's so Green then how do you go from petty liquor store robber to contract killer? And if they were as good as you say then you know they wouldn't have told us anyway, even if they got one hell of an ass whooping." Angel sounded smug and arrogant, more than usual anyway.

"You think you're funny. Everyone thinks there funny until I bust them in the face." Green's new partner Fowler got in Angel's face and hell started to break loose. Chris could feel her blood boil more, which she tried to ignore but it wasn't really working.

"I think it's time to take your little bitch out of my mother's house Green. She's starting to stink up the place." Chris said walking towards the group of men.

"What did you just say?"

"Was I speaking to fast? Get the fuck out of my mother's house!"

"Look Chris…"

"No you look, you're not here to arrest anyone, you don 't have a worrant and your partner just threatened my little brother. Now before this get out of hand, and it will get out of hand, I want you out."

He looked at her for a second before looking at Fowler and signaling him to leave. Chris headed for the kitchen and grabbed a beer out of the fridge.

"A little to early don't you think sis?" The sound of Bobby's voice made her stomach churn a little as she remembered last night. She turned to see him standing in the kitchen alone.

"How much do you know?" she asked referring to their conversation last night.

"Enough."

"Don't fuck with me Bobby."

"I know about your dad, and what he did."

"I swear to god Bobby if tell Jerry or Angel…"

"Untwist you're panties Chris I wont tell them anything. Why didn't you tell us? Why'd you lie?" He asked eyeing he carefully to try and see if she would lie again.

"I don't know Bobby. Besides it's not like you guys need to know every little detail about me. What happened last night anyway?"

Bobby walked over and sat at table. "We found them but they spotted us and ran. We chased them down in the car and caught up to them. They didn't give us anything. We grabbed their wallets and took car of the rest. My car took a beating but other than that..."

"And I'm the one with self-control issues." she said finishing off her beer and tossing the bottle in the garbage. "You going to their apartments later?"

"Yeah. You coming?"

"Something I wanna check out first. Let me see their "

Bobby grabbed their wallets and handed them to Chris. She took out her cell and took pictures of both of their licenses and went back up stairs to get ready to leave.

She needed to know everything there was to know about these guys and as much as she hated it she had to go back to Darin's place see what he could find out...


	15. A Promise

**15**

"What are you doing here?"

"I need information. I just sent two pictures to your cell, I need everything you can get."

"Ok I'll get on it." He started to close the door but she stopped it with her boot.

"I need it right now." she didn't have time to deal with him. She needed information before her brothers got anything.

"It's gonna take me a while to get everything."

"I can wait."

He let out a sigh before opening the door andletting her in.

"Hey babe I gotta head out ok?"

A busty blond, who Chris found familiar but couldn't place, walked out of Darin's room buttoning her top. She stopped when she saw Chris and had a look of both anger and fear on her face.

"Christina I didn't know you were back in town." Blondie said trying to sound snooty.

"It's Chris and my mother was murdered where else would I be?"

"Of course. Call me later Darin." she said walking out.

"Right."

"You always did bounce back quickly." Chris said throwing her jacket on the nearest chair.

"So who are these guys anyway?" Darin asked changing the subject. He plugged up his phone to his laptop and started typing away.

"They're the guys that killed my mother."

He stopped typing and looked at her. "Are you serious? You need me to find them?"

"No I know where they are. They checked into the city morgue this morning. I need everything else mostly bank accounts."

He didn't say anything except nod his head and went back to typing.

"So who's the Bimbo?" Chris asked sitting down.

"Megan isn't a bimbo."

"Is that why you're not going to call her back?"

"No I'm not going to call her back because I don't like her."

"You like her enough to have sex with her."

"Megan is just a friend."

"You don't have just friends Darin."

"No you and me aren't _just_ friends. I know other people besides you."

"Not very many though."

"That's because everyone in town knows I associate myself with you." He kept typing at his computer looking through bank statements. "Ive got something."

"What is it?"

"Both of them were wired a large sum of money the day before and the day after they killed your mom."

"From where?"

"Hold on I'm tracking it down now but it's bouncing all over the place. A bunch of bogus companies around the states. I'm trying to see if I can get an actual name."

He kept typing on the computer and with each key stroke Chris got more and more anxious.

"Oh shit." Darin said starring blank faced at the computer.

"What? What did you find? Who was it?" But he didn't answer her instead he closed his laptop. "Darin!"

"You need to let this go Chris."

"Tell me!"

"Trust me you need to let this go."

"I'm going to find out sooner or later just tell me."

"His name is Victor Sweet. He own half the city already and is working on the other half. This guy is dangerous and has a lot of connections. You don't want to cross him."

"He killed my mother. I'm going to do a lot more than cross him. Where can I find him?"

He knew he wasn't going to win this conversation so he gave her what he had and grabbed his jacket.

"What are you doing?" Chris asked looking at him. "You're not coming with me."

"Yes I am. I'm not going to let you go by yourself. I figure since you were in a rush and you brought me pictures of the instead of the actual ones that your brothers don't know about this and you don't plan on telling them."

"I can take care of myself thanks."

"I'm sure you can. C'mon I'll drive." he said grabbing his keys.

Chris didn't say anything, she just grabbed her jacket and followed him out to his car. Neither one of them said anything at first which made her crazy. She never liked the quiet, it made her feel uncomfortable.

"So who is this guy exactly?"

"You remember Malcom Sweet from when we were in high school?"

"That punk drug dealer?"

"Yeah well Victor is his nephew. A couple years after we graduated cops found Malcom's body in the lake and Victor's been in charge ever since. He's moved up from drug dealer to heavy hitter. He owns a restaurant downtown that's where we'll find him."

"You know a hell of a lot about this guy."

"I make it a point to know what goes on around here and who's doing what just in case. What I don't get is why Sweet would want your mom dead."

"Lets go ask him."

* * *

They pulled up to the restaurant and through the door. Chris had her hand on the knife she had in the pocket, ready to use it.

The receptionist was some girl about twenty with a plastered on smile on her face.

"Table for two?" she asked.

"No, I'm here to talk to the jackass who owns this place." Chis said already annoyed.

"Take you're ass back there and get me Victor Sweet."

"Chris calm down yelling at her isn't going to do anything."

"No one told you to come."

"Is there a problem here?" A manager came out after hearing the commotion.

"No there isn't. we just need to talk to Victor Sweet." Darin said taking over.

"Is he expecting you?"

"He should be, just tell him the daughter of the woman he killed is here to talk to him."

"I'm sorry but I'm going to have to ask you to leave now." Chris just smiled at this and walked past him towards the back of the restaurant where she assumed he'd be, Darin right behind her.

"Excuse me you can't do that! I'm calling security!

She stopped and turned to face him, "Call whoever you want I'm not leaving until I talk to Victor Sweet."

"Someone called my name?" Chris whipped her head around and saw him standing by a long table with a bunch of guys sitting around it. "What can I do for a pretty girl like yourself?"

"You could beg for mercy when I kill you."

"Is that so?"

"But before that you could tell me why you had my mother killed."

He eyed her for a minute before taking a seat at the table. "And you're mother is...?"

"Evelyn Mercer."

"Right, I heard about that on the news the other day. I'm sorry for your loss."

"Not as sorry as you're gonna be trust me."

Chris wanted to jump over and slice open his neck for what he did. He killed her, she could see it in that disgusting grin he had on his face. Her blood was boiling and she clenched her jaw tight to fight the urge to bite her lip.

"What makes you think I killed your mom? What reason would I have?"

"I don't think you killed her I know you did. As for the reason. I don't know, you tell me why you killed a 62 year old woman in cold blood."

He chuckled and looked around the table. "Look sweetie..."

"The last guy who called me sweetie ended up with his tongue cut off and shoved up his ass."

"I don't find it appealing when a woman uses language like that. Someone should give you an English lesson."

"Is that someone gonna be you?" Chris asked.

He didn't say anything he just nodded at one of the guys at the table. He was a big guy who pulled a .45 from the back of his pants.

"Chris..." Darin said getting her attention. He was never very good in fights. It's not that he couldn't fight, he just didn't like to. His situation was a lot like Chris' but the difference was that Chris' violent past took her over, but Darin would rather suppress his.

The guy walked towards Chris with his gun pointed at her. It wasn't the first time she had a gun pointed at her head and she knew it wasn't going to be the last. Once he got close enough she grabbed his had and punched his arm, breaking it. He dropped the gun and dropped the the floor in pain.

She quickly grabbed the gun and pointed it at Victor's head clicking the safety off. The rest of the guys at the table all took out guns and pointed them at her.

"You'll be dead before you pull the trigger." He said grinning.

"I wouldn't be so sure about that." She held the gun steady for a while before clicking the safety back on and handing it to Darin. She pulled the knife out of her pocket and walked over to Victor.

"I wouldn't shoot you though. I prefer knives when I kill someone I don't like, and I really don't like you. I have this thing about my family Victor, I'm extremely protective of them. Now I can't be sure when but I promise you that I am going to kill you, and it is going to be painful and you will regret the day you ever heard the name Mercer." She clicked the knife to expose the blade and stabbed the table with it.

"I never caught your name." he said as she turned her back and walked away from him with Darin by her side.

"Ask around, better yet ask the moles you have in the police department. Cops love the Mercer's."

With that they headed back to Darin's car and he drove them back to his place. Chris just sat in the passenger seat, looked out the window, and cried in silence.


	16. Square one

**16**

"You going to be ok?" Darin asked when they pulled up to his house.

"It'll take more than an asshole in a fake Italian restaurant with a couple of goons to rattle me." she said with a snicker.

"Of course. You need me to do anything?" he turned the car off and looked over at her.

"Yeah. I want everything you have on him. Family, business, friends, all of it. I'm going to bury him Darin and I need your help."

"It's more then that isn't it?"

She nodded, "This shouldn't have happened. I need to make it loud and clear that if you mess with my family you're dead."

He didn't say anything, she knew he'd help her. He loved her after all, so he just sat and looked over at her trying to see if there was a way to comfort her. But there wasn't any, her mother was the only one that was ever able to make her feel better when she was sad and her mother was dead now.

"I should go check on my brothers."

"You can stay here if you want." he suggested in an attempt to talk to her more.

She chuckled and let out a sigh. "I'll come by later maybe."

She leaned over and gave him a kiss on the cheek and then left. She got in her car and headed back to her mother's house. They had already come back from the hitmen's apartment.

"Where you been?" Bobby asked pulling guns out of a duffle bag and setting them on the table.

"Mind your own damn business for a change Bobby." She walked over to the table and looked at the guns and picked up a desert eagle and examined it.

"But minding yours is so much more fun." He said sarcastically.

"Whatever. What you guys find?"

"Mom met with that lawyer guy the day she died."

"He didn't tell us that when we saw him. He said he'd only met her the one time."

"No shit. We're gonna pay his house a little visit later. You wanna come or do you have somewhere to be?"

Chris just rolled her eyes. "I'm in," She started to walk away. "And Bobby tone down the asshole routine a little."

"I will when you tone down the hardass routine." he snickered.

She just shook her head and headed up to her room. She was still reeling from her meeting with Victor Sweet and she knew Bobby picked up on it. He wasn't stupid in the least and he'd figure it out soon so she needed a plan fast.

Her anger was clouding her judgement, she could feel it.

Angel and Sophie were having another fight as they were heading out about dinner. Bobby, Jack, and Chris all laughed as they headed for the car. Angel met them a few minutes later and they went to pick up Jerry and the five of them went to pay the lawyer a visit.

* * *

"How we gonna get in?" Jack asked as they pulled up to the dark mansion on the rich side of town.

"Back window Jack. Didn't I teach you anything?" Bobby said mockingly.

"Can we just get this over with?" Chris said getting out of the car.

"What's the matter Stickyfingers? Afraid you'll be tempted?"

"You're the one who should be afraid Bobby if you keep running your mouth."

Bobby just laughed and the rest of them got out of the car and headed around back. Chris broke the glass of the door and unlocked it. They each started looking around and Jack headed for the computer and pulled up his schedule.

"You don't think E.M stands for Evelyn Mercer do ya?" Jack asked looking up at Chris.

"That's the day she died. We need to talk to this guy." Chris looked over at Bobby then suddenly there was a car honking loudly outside followed by Sofi's voice. "Dammit Angel do something!"

"This bitch is crazy man."

"Go shut her up then! She'll wake up the whole fucking neighborhood" Jack yelled

"Fine but yall coming with me."

They followed Angel out the front where Sofi was screaming and honking her car horn. Chris stayed inside and looked around a little more. She found ticket stubs to her mother's favorite movie and one of her mother's scarves on a chair. Chris had bought it for her for mothers day one year.

Then it clicked that this guy didn't have anything to with her mom's murder. Chris went outside to round up her brothers so they could leave to find Angel and Bobby harassing the lawyer.

"Bobby c'mon man." Jerry said trying to clam him down. Bobby Had him in the snow with his shirt over his head.

"No I'm going to do it again and again till he tells me what I want to know."

"Bobby! That's enough leave him alone!" Chris yelled.

"He lied to us about mom and I want the truth."

"He was mom's boyfriend Bobby." She said walking over to them.

"What?"

Chris helped the man up, "Weren't you?"

"Yes. Your mother was a fine woman and I didn't want to soil her reputation." He stuttered a bit and was shivering.

"It's fine. We broke a back window but we didn't take anything. We just want to know what happened to her."

"I understand. I have some of your mothers things if you want..."

"That's not necessary. We're just going to leave." Chris headed for the car and got behind the wheel her brothers behind her. Angel rode back to the house with Sofi and Chris dropped off Jerry at his house.

No one said anything because they where back to square one, except for Chris. She knew who killed her mother she just didn't know why.


	17. Partners

** 17**

After dropping Jerry back off at his house Chris, Bobby, Angel and Jack went beck to their mother's house. Chris locked herself in her room. She thought of heading over to Darin's but once she laid on her bed she couldn't move she was emotionally and physically tired and she just fell asleep praying she didn't have anymore nightmares.

When she woke up she heard her brothers talking out in the hall.

"Hey, listen." Angel said standing the doorway of the bathroom. "Jerry ain't been straight up with us about that redevelopment project. Turns out Jerry got involved with some bad people. City cut his loans off like a month ago. Technically, he's really broke."

"You think this has something to do with what happened to mom?" Bobby asked.

"No, I'm saying that it's something that we should look into. Y'all to go down and visit this city official named Douglas, he'll know who Jerry got mixed up with. l'm gonna go check on some other shit."

"What other shit? What are you talking about? Why don't you just say what you know Angel?" Bobby yelled.

"I know you need to stay your ass on that porcelain. This is gonna require some finesse "

"I wrote the fucking book on finesse! Wait for me to wipe my ass Angel! Angel!"

Angel headed down stairs and was out the door. Chris went in to her room and changed her clothes and went to Darin's.

She pulled up in his driveway and saw a car that wasn't his. When she knocked on the door the blonde bimbo, Megan, from the day before opened the door and gave her a dirty look.

"Can I help you?" She was wearing one of Darin's shirts and was giving Chris a lot of attitude.

"You can watch your damn tone and move the fuck out of my way."

"Excuse me?" she tried to not look intimidated but it wasn't working. Chris gave her a smirk and pushed past her and walked into Darin's bedroom.

He was sprawled across the bed completely knocked out. Chris straddled him and pinned him down. "What do you know about a guy named Douglas?"

Darin groggily opened his eyes, "Chris what the hell?" he groaned.

"Douglas what do you know about him?"

"Why?"

"Get up we've got work to do and I need to know about Douglas. And your girlfriend is still here." Chris got up and went into the kitchen to make a pot of coffee. Darin got up and talked Megan into leaving before going into the kitchen and getting a cup of coffee.

"Douglas is a councilman at the courthouse. What about him?" he took a sip of his coffee and leaned on the counter.

"Bobby and Jack are paying him a visit. Apparently Jerry got mixed up with some people I don't know the whole story yet. I need you to look into both Jerry and Douglas and see if they tie back to Sweet."

Chris took her jacket off and put it on the table before following Darin into the living room. He opened his laptop and started typing away digging up as much information as he could. "She's not my girlfriend." He said after a few minutes.

"You should tell her that not me." she laughed.

He just shook his head, "Then who would I have sex with?" he smirked.

She drank some of the coffee from her mug."You can do better."

"You don't get to have and input on who I have sex with Chris." He set his jaw and took a deep breath.

"Fine, your right." She said knowing his tells. He was still pissed at her even if he did try to hide it from her.

* * *

Darin spent the whole day digging up financial records for Councilman Douglas and Jerry. Chris barely talked to him she'd rather let him work then get into another fight. He'd stop being mad at her eventually, he alway did.

It was dark now and Jack had called a few times to check up on her but she barely talked to him.

"I got it!" Darin said with a mouth full of the pizza that Chris had ordered.

"Finally! Break it down for me." She said as she plopped down next to him on the couch.

"Ok well Douglas is definitely in Sweet's pocket. Jerry's project was going good for a while and then Douglas shut it down." He showed her a bunch of numbers on the computer that barely made sense to her.

"Why would he do that?" she asked as she got up and started pacing.

Darin closed his laptop and followed her with his eyes, "Guys like Sweet like to have a piece of everything. My best guess is Sweet tried to cut in on Jerrys project."

"And knowing Jerry he wouldn't let Sweet in."

"But I don't see what this has to do with your mom." Darin took another bite out of his pizza and got up to get some beers.

"One time the five of us went to a party in the middle of the night. We were back before mom got up and I made sure that there was no way she'd know we were gone but sure enough when she got up all of us were in trouble for leaving."

He handed her a beer as she continued to pace around the room."How'd she find out?" he asked taking a swig from his bottle.

"Jerry was never able to keep anything from her. All she had to do was look at him and she'd just know without him even saying anything. After that we never told Jerry anything."

"So when she found out..."

"She started making waves and she went to the wrong person."

"So Sweet ordered the hit to keep her quiet."

"But who'd she go to?" Chris stopped pacing and sat back down next to Darin. They tried to figure out who Evelyn went to with what she had to say.

They spent the whole night going over her phone records looking at cops, judges, other councilmen but they couldn't find a paper trail of anything to help them. Eventually Darin fell asleep on the couch but Chris couldn't sleep, someone had served her mother up to Sweet and in her eyes they were just as responsible.


	18. Jack Mercer: Little Brother

** 18**

Chris spent the night at Darin's house but she didn't sleep. She kept trying to figure out who it was that her mom went to. Sweet had at least a dozen cops in his pockets at about the same number in city officials.

Chris was up pacing when Darin woke up. She tooked tired and worn out still wearing her tank top and jeans from the day before. "You're going to put a hole in my floor." She didn't say anything and she kept pacing. If she hadn't glanced over at him he would've though she didn't hear him. "You didn't sleep at all did you?" He asked even though he already knew the answer. Chris shook her head and kept pacing.

"I don't know what I'm missing Darin." She whispered.

"You're tired Chris just take a break." He got up and took the cold cup of coffee out of her hand and put it on the table. But Chris just shook her head and kept pacing. "Chris seriously..."

"I'm going to go home. I'll call you later." She grabbed her jacket and headed out the door. As much as she hated it she needed to talk to her brothers about this. It was early but they should be up, she'd call Jerry over later to talk to him too.

When she drove up she could see Jerry's car already in the driveway and Jack running after a guy with a blue hoodie on. Chris felt her stomach turn, she had a feeling things were about to get really bad.

Then her world seemed to slow down. She was halph out of the car when the guy turned around and pulled a gun out, shooting Jack in the chest. The gunshot snapped her back into focus and she took off in a run pulling her gun out of her waist but he feet felt like they were made of led. Jack turned and saw her clutching his chest. He fumbled to her but he was shot again in the back and hit the ground.

Chris had tunnel vision, completely focused on her little brother. She was almost there when she was hit in the arm. Bobby was screaming at her, bullets were flying past her, and Jack was calling for her but she wasn't going to make it to him. She hit a sprint back to her car and ducked behind the door.

Her car was getting sprayed with bullets. She emptied her clip at the guys hitting at least two. But the bullets kept flying. She reached under the driver seat, pulled out another mag, and reloaded. She tried to block it out but all she could hear was Jack screaming her name.

"I'm coming Jack just hold on." It was more of a prayer than anything. Chris stood up and aimed at the gunmen across the street from her mother's house. She took out the one taking shots at her with a bullet to the brain. As soon as he went down another had his eyes on her.

She tried to look past the AK and get her shot but she had to keep ducking down. It took her three bullets just to hit him and another two to kill him. She was out of bullets and out of patients and she needed to get to Jack.

Chris sat against her door and tried to think of something. Then bullets began to pour over her car, barely missing her. She stayed down and could hear them doing the same to Bobby, who was on the porch. Chris stayed still and played dead until the shooting stopped. She could hear them shuffling over broken glass heading towards the house. Chris pulled out the knife she had strapped to her leg. As soon as he got close enough she jumped up and knocked his gun out of his hand. He took a swing at her but Chris grabbed his arm and stabbed him in the stomach.

He yelled out but took another swing and punched her in the arm she was shot in. Chris gritted her teeth and buried her knife into his neck. He gurgled a bit before hitting the ground. She dropped the knife and made a beeline for Jack.

He had stopped calling for Chris a for a while but he was still alive. Chris held her brother in her arms and could tell that he wasn't going to make it. Bobby had rushed over to them and Angel after him. Then Angel grabbed his brother and sister trying to pull them away from Jack as a Van sped their way. Chris refused to budge, she didn't care if the van hit her all she cared about was her dying brother.

Everything was quiet in her head, she didn't even see Jerry slam his car into the side of the van, or Sophie rush out to call the cops. Jack looked up at her and tried to say something but blood poured from his mouth and he squeezed her hand before going limp.

Tears were flowing from all of their faces as they looked down at their little brother's dead body. There was a shifting in the van and Chris was the first to hear it. She moved Jack off of her lap and wiped her face with the back her hand. She walked over to the van, picking up a gun from the street and checking it for bullets.

The driver was hanging out of the door. Chris pulled off his mask and held the gun to his head.

"Victor Sweet sent you didn't he?"

"Yeah...Yeah it was Sweet. Thank god."

"God? This son of a bitch killed my mom and my little brother. Thank Victor Sweet." She emptied the clip into his skull and with every pull of the trigger she felt like she was falling apart.

When she was done she threw the gun on the ground and walked past her brothers to steps on the porch and sat down.

Sirens blared down the street on their way the Mercer house. None of the cops or paramedics were ready for what they saw; the house and Chris' car covered with bullet holes, bodies scattered everywhere including Jack Mercer himself, and the four living Mercer sibling sitting on the steps with stone faces. The bodies were checked, bagged and lined up to be picked up by the coroner.

"What the hell happened?" Green asked as he stood in front of the four of them.

"Victor Sweet did this." Bobby answered as he looked over at Chris, who face as way to calm.

"How do you know that?"

Chris looked up at him, her face still frozen."Because his friend in the bag said so."

"Okay I'll make sure to get his statement."

"Why would he do this to us?" Jerry asked shaking his head trying to hide the fact that he was crying.

"Why our mom?" Angel didn't care if they saw him cry.

Chris took a deep breath and pushed her hair back from her face. "Because mom was going after him for shutting Jerry's project down. She knew you to well to think you were corrupt."

They all looked at Chris as she stared down at her feet. "But I never told her about my business."

"Like that stopped her. You couldn't keep a secret from her Jerry none of us could. The rest of us were just better liars than you."

"Green are you gonna bury Sweet or are we?" Angel asked getting to the point.

"Well I got a ... dirty uniform I need to deal with first. Evelyn filed a police report that got passed on to Sweet."

Chris' eyes got wide, he knew who the dirty cop was. "By who?"

"Look I've got somethings I need to handle..."

"Don't bullshit me Green!." She stood up and walked down to him. "Who is it? That punk partner of yours? Fowler?"

"You leave Fowler to me. He's my problem then we can go get Sweet."

"Green how are we supposed to handle all this?" Chris asked as he walked away.

He turned to her and shrugged."Self-defense wasn't it? You should get that arm checked out."


	19. Funerals and changed plans

**19**

The next couple of day were a blur for Chris. Her phone rang constantly; Bobby, Angel, Darin, and Jerry all tried calling her at first to make sure she didn't do anything stupid then to make sure she was still alive.

Chris had no idea where she was going but she spent night and day walking around in the snow hoping that the freezing air would somehow turn her numb to everything, it didnt seem to work. When she got news that Green was dead she decided that she needed to go home and end this.

She walked into he mother's bullet hole covered house and saw her brothers sitting in the kitchen.

"Where the hell have you been?" Bobby asked he in a calm voice staring down at the table.

Chris didn't answer him, she took her jacket off and slid down the wall onto the floor. "I don't know what to do anymore. I-I'm scared." It was the hardest thing she had ever said in her life. Her brothers looked at each other not knowing what to say or how to say it but they all knew that they were feeling the same way.

The four of them sat in the kitchen in silence for a while. Jerry and Camile set everything up for Jack's funeral because no one else could bare to do it.

On the day of the funeral Chris contemplated not going at all. She just wanted to sit on her room and pretend that her little brother wasn't dead, that her mom wasn't dead and everything was fine. Eventually she forced herself to get dressed and meet Darin outside.

"You okay?" He asked as he drove to the cemetery. Chris just looked over at him. "Right stupid question."

"I just want to get this over with." Chris kept her eyes on the moving city outside the window.

Chris, Bobby, Jerry and Angel stood around their brother's casket all of them promising that they'd never let it happen again. They all silently promised that they wouldn't lose another family member. As they headed home they heard the gunfire from Green's funeral, which wasn't far from them.

Chris turned and looked at the funerals one last time before following her brothers back to the cars. Darin took her home in silence, not knowing what to say.

When they got back to the house the five of them sat in the living room.

"He never should have came. He never should have came home." Angel mumbled as he stared down at the flood.

Chris reached out and squeezed his hand. "l miss him too. We won't be able to bring him back, but we're gonna send him some company."

"You can't go to war with Victor Sweet. Not straight up. He'll just hire more and more goons until we are all dead." Jerry said shaking his head.

Bobby sighed and looked at Chris."l don't know what to do anymore. l already lost one brother. You guys are all l got."

"l got an idea." Jerry said nevously. Everyone looked over to him waiting to hear it. "We'll take the rest of the money from Mom's insurance, pay Sweet to call off the dogs. He'll deal. He's a businessman."

"lt doesn't count as a plan if it takes you longer to say it than it does to think it up." Bobby muttered.

Angel nodded." Yeah, Jerry. Sweet will meet up with you, take your money. Won't be able to find your body till the river thaws."

"If you can get that far." Darin added.

"Lets do it." They all eyed Chris like she had just sprouted an extra head. "Get the message to Sweet. Four hundred thousand dollards and this is over." Jerry nodded and she headed up stairs.

After a few minutes she saw Jerry heading out to his car and drive away. There was a knock on her door before Darin poked his head through.

"What's the point of knocking if you're just gonna walk in anyway?" She asked crossing her arms over her chest.

"At least I knock before I walk in unlike some people." He mocked walking in and sitting on her bed. "I don't even remember the last time I was in here."

"It was the night before I left. I snuck you in."

"Oh yeah. That was fun, until..." He stopped when he remembered.

"Until Jack kncoked on the door to yell at me for leaving." She finished. She remembered that night like it was yesterday. She wished that yesterday Jack was cursing at her and telling her how much he hated her, telling her that she was breaking all her promises and that he didn't care if she left because he wouldn't miss her. She wished she could hug him again and tell him that she'd puch him in the face if he ever yelled at her like that again. "I shouldv'e been there." she whispered.

"Chris there was nothing you could've done."

"Your wrong. There were a million things I could've done. I could've ran faster, shot better, anything."

"Chris..."

"Just stop." She shook her head to cut him off. "You're not going to convince me that it's not my fault."

He got up from the bed and stood in front of her. "What do you want me to do?"

"Get me Fowler's address."

* * *

Jerry walked through the door and leaned against the wall. "Evan called Sweet. He's going for it."

"So when's the meet?" Chris asked as she and Bobby cleaned their guns. Angel sat next to them drinking a beer.

"Four o'clock."

Chris' head snapped up. "Today? That's in three hours Jerry!"

"Well, we ain't got no choice! Sweet's supposed to roll up on us any minute now."

Chris could see it on his face that there was something else."What is it? What else?" She asked finally putting the gun down and walking over to him.

"Well, Evan, we cool. And he let me in on a little something. lf Fowler's there, he don't think he's gonna go for it."

"So there's no plan!" Angel huffed finishing off his beer.

"Yes, there is, Bobby. We just take out Fowler out before the meet."

"We can't kill a cop even if he is dirty!" Jerry yelled trying to get through to his sister.

"He handed mom to Sweet, okay? He's not walking away from this! Make sure the hole's cut when we get there." She walked upstairs to get ready for the plan.

After a while she came back down and they all drove to Jerry's house. Camile had got the girls ready and were taking them to her mom's house. Jerry walked over to say goodbye to them his siblings stood outside to send Angel off. As he grove away

"C'mon Jerry." Chris said as she walked over to him. He nodded and headed towards the house.

"Chris." Camile stopped her as she started to follow behind Jerry. "Look, l know l don't know you that well, but don't you let him get hurt. You bring him back to me."

"l will, Camille. lt'sgonna be okay." Chris waved her off and headed into the house with Jerry and Bobby. All they needed now was a call from Angel.

**A/N: Only one more Chapter guys. What do you think should happen in the Sweet/Mercer face off? Give me some ideas.**


	20. The end

**20**

Bobby, Chris, and Jerry stood around in Jerry's living room waiting for Angel to call. They were all anxious and pacing around. It didn't help when Evan had got there that Angel still hadn't called.

"Jerry! - Fuck!" Evan yelled as he repeatedly rang the doorbell.

Jerry paced back and forth anxiously next to the door and looked at Chris. "We ain't going nowhere without the call, just calm down."

"What the fuck you...?"

Evan knocked and rang the doorbell. "Jerry!"

"Just keep stalling him." Chris whispered.

Jerry rolled his eyes and shook his head. "I'm grabbing my scarf, man. I'll be there in a minute! Hold on." He yelled.

Chris' phone rang and she quickly answered it. "Angel?"

"Hey, I got him."

"ls he out of the way?" she asked eagerly.

"You wanna ask him?"

Jerry was anxious as she paced back and forth waiting for Chris. "Let me hear his voice."

"Hold on, let me put him on. Say hi to my sister."

Fowler's mumbled voice came through the phone "We got you now." She said before hanging up the phone and nodded for Jerry to go.

"Jerry, what the hell? You in there?" Evan called before Jerry opened the door and walked outside. Chris grabbed her bag and her and Bobby waited for Jerry and Sweet's guys to pull out of the driveway.

When they were gone Darin pulled up to the driveway. "Ready big sis?" Bobby asked opening the door.

"Are you? Little brother." They looked at each other for a minute. They knew exactly how different they were from each other but at that moment they were exactly the same.

Chris walked to the car and got into the passenger seat next to Darin and Bobby followed behind her and got in the back seat. Chris pulled out her phone and called Sophie and told her to go on with her part.

"You sure you know what to do?"

"Si, I tell the cops about Angel. I know Chris. You just get this _puta_."

"I will Sophie." Chris said before she hung up the phone.

Darin glanced over at her. "Everything good to go?"

"Yeah. Thanks Darin."

They drove in silence to the lake. Chris got a text from Sophie updating her on the Angel situation and everything was going according to plan.

When they got there Chris could just make out the cars in the middle of the lake. She felt like she had been waiting forever for this moment.

It seemed like they were walking for an eternity, her and Bobby. Her heart was beating so fast and so loud it drowned out everything around her. Bobby had said something to her but all she could hear was the sound of her own heartbeat. As they got closer she saw Sweet look over at them and take off his coat.

"You all right, Jerry?" Bobby asked as they walked over to Jerry.

"Yeah, l'm straight."

"Bobby Mercer so you gonna be the one, man?" Sweet got in his fighting stance and was focused on Bobby. He didn't notice Chris take off her coat and he definitely expect it when she punched him in the face. "You little..." Chris punched him again before he could finish. She kicked him in the back of his leg and brought him down to one knee.

She could hear everyone yelling around them but couldn't make out what they were saying. He punched her in the ribs and knocked the air out of her. She could feel the bone crack from the impact but she didn't have time to react because he punched her in the mouth. He was fast, to fast. His blows came hard and fast one after another and Chris could barely catch her breath. Her whole body was in overdrive and she could feel everything.

Chris knew if she lost this fight she would die but she didn't care about that. She wasn't afraid of death but if she died then who would protect the little family she had left. She could let them die like her mom or Jack. She was going to kill Sweet and she was going to make sure that no one ever came near her family again.

He was about to punch her again but she grabbed his arm and twisted his wrist until she felt the bones snap out of place. She slammed her elbow into his nose and brought her arm back to uppercut him in the jaw.

It was over. Sweet was laid out on the ice and Chris was covered in blood, most of it her own. "Get him in the hole."

Four guys dragged Sweet's body to a whole in the ice and let him drift down under the water. Chris stood with her brothers and wiped away the blood that was dripping down her nose. "The money's still yours. Remember to spread the word, the Mercer's own Detroit now. Anyone that's dumb enough to come after us is dead." They all just nodded. Chris, Bobby, and Jerry turned to leave the scene of the crime.

"So, what we gonna do about the police?" Jerry asked.

Bobby smirked,"Cops love the Mercers, Jerry. Everyone knows that."

* * *

Chris sat in the interrogation room. She stared at the wall in front of her as the two cops asked her questions.

"Where is Victor Sweet Chris? We have witnesses that put you with Sweet. Just tell us what happened and we can cut you a deal."

They had nothing and Chris knew it. "So all I have to do is tell you where he is right?"

"It's a start yeah."

"Okay then why don't you ask you're damn witnesses where he is then. Oh wait! You don't have any."

One of them was clearly angry. Trying to pull the good cop/bad cop routine. She recognized the bad cop, Allen Rodriguez, she went to school with him and turned him down a couple times. "Listen here you little bitch you tell us what you and your psychotic ass brothers did or I swear to God..." He grabbed Chris by the collar of her shirt.

"Alright, alright. I'll tell you everything. Just get your damn hands off me." He let her go and walked to the other side of the table. "I went first to make things a little easier for the guys. That and I don't like to do it in front of an audience, to kinky for me you know. After I did my thing I gave the boys the green light. I waited outside cause well I didn't want to see all of that, I mean would you? But let me tell you the amount of screaming that was coming from that room I'm surprised no one called the cops. I mean you could hear them pounding away at it over and over and over. I wasn't in there so I don't know if they took turns or not but to me it sounded like they were all doing it at the same time. When they were done we left."

"You left? To go where?"

"Home. I mean I checked on her before hand to..."

"Her?" They both looked confused like they had missed something.

"Yeah. Geez Rodriguez I didn't know your wife was suck a freak." That sent him over the edge. He leaped over the table and reached for her. his partner held him back and pushed him to the wall.

"You got something to charge me with boys?"

"Get her the hell outta here!" Allen screamed.

Chris got up and walked out the door just in time to see Jerry, Bobby, and Angel get thrown out too.

Sophie and Camille ran up to Angel and Jerry. "Give me my property!" Bobby yelled to the clerk. "Jerry you looked guilty. You said something didn't you?"

"Man I aint say nothing."

"I did." Chris said as she grabbed her watch off the counter.

They all looked at her. "What'd you say?" Angel asked.

Chris laughed as she thought about the interview. "I told him I was banging his wife."

They all joined and started laughing. "Me too."

"Yeah me too." They all filled the station with their laughs as they left.

* * *

The cops had nothing and the word was out. Angel, Jerry, and Bobby started to do renovations on the house and Chris financed it. She thought about staying in the house. Bobby wasn't going to stick around and Angel would have to go back for duty. She could live there she could be with Darin and have kids and have Thanksgiving and Christmas. She cold get a job and start a family like she knew her mom wanted her to. But she couldn't lie to herself and she could lie to him.

She couldn't handle the memories that came with the house so she packed her bag. "Heading out?" Bobby asked as she walked down the stairs.

"Yeah. It's about that time ya know?"

"Yeah I know."

They stood for a second and looked at each other before she dropped her bag and hugged him. "You better take care of mom's house."

"Stick around and you can boss us around like usual."

"I trust you. Besides I'll just let Jerry boss you around instead."

Angel and Jerry walked in and saw her bags too. "You owe me a bill Bobby."

"Yeah yeah keep your panties on Angel."

Chris walked over to Angel. "You guys are ridiculous." She said hugging him too.

"You know how they get." Jerry snickered.

"Yeah I do. C'mere" She hugged him too.

Chris looked at her brothers and looked at the empty space where Jack should have been. They all felt it, the emptiness in the air like someone had cut two big holes in their lives.

They silence was driving them all crazy but no one knew what to say. Then she heard Darin pull up and was grateful for something other than silence.

"That's my ride."

"Yeah you tell him I'll kick his ass if..."

"Yeah yeah tough guy Bobby. You better be careful, people might actually think you care." She grabbed her bag and walked towards the car. She felt like she did when she first left.

_"You know you can always come back home Chris. There always love here for you." _She heard her mom say from the porch in her usual spot.

"I know mom. I know."

She threw her bag in the back along side Darin's.

"Where to Chris?" He asked as he drove down the street.

She grabbed his hand and held it. "West coast. It's bright, it's hot, and it's not here."


End file.
